


Vigilante Training 101

by MissScorp



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Light is trying to make amends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 15:23:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18780970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissScorp/pseuds/MissScorp
Summary: Light makes it his mission to right his wrongs by becoming Batman. He just has to survive the training.





	Vigilante Training 101

Light nicknamed Nightwing the  _Man-of-a-thousand-torture-techniques-masquerading-as-training-seminars_ after the sadistic taskmaster had him:

_March up a mountain in the freezing cold wearing nothing but training pants while carrying a huge pack of gear on his back_.

He only received frostbite and pneumonia for that bout of inane and utterly useless training.

_Dive into a burning building in order to rescue some people who'd gotten trapped by the blaze_.

He received first-degree burns on his legs, arms, and back, passed out from smoke inhalation, and had his eyebrows signed off. Oh, and he also needed rescuing by Batwoman.

_Run through a maze to deactivate one of those ridiculous riddle traps of the Riddler's before he could fry some corrupt politician_.

He foolishly thought this training seminar beneath him. Then he ended up blowing out half of the power in Gotham. To Ryuk’s great amusement.

_Swim through an underwater channel to deactivate a bomb planted beneath Gotham General by the Joker_.

He got caught in one of the clown’s clever traps and needed Nightwing to come rescue him while Red Robin stopped the bomb before it exploded.

The final — and Light thought this the absolute worst bit of torture that the dastardly man came up with — was when his tormentor decided to _make him urban climb up the side of a building just so he could stop some guy threatening to burn it down unless his lover got released from Blackgate_.

That bit of stupidity resulted in a sprained ankle and Nightwing having to do the job himself as Light laid on the cobblestone and listened to Ryuk laughing uproariously at his inability to, "get two feet off the ground."

Now, his torm…  _trainer,_  he mentally corrected, had come up with a whole new way in which to remind Light about how fighting crime was just as physical a business as a mental one. As if the bruises on top of the bruises still on his backside from his failed attempt at climbing the side of a building weren't enough of a reminder.

He tested the pole with his hand, found the wood as smooth as silk, and solid as a rock. _Thankfully_ , he decided. He tried to climb up it as Nightwing showed him...

... only to slide right back down as soon as he managed to get both feet off the ground.

"Hey, Light?" Ryuk asked as Light studied the twenty-five-foot high pole with a frown. "How come it's taking you so long to learn how to become Batman?"

A scathing look was the only answer he gave him before he went back to his goal of figuring out how to get to the flag at the top of the pole with the least amount of trouble and injury as possible. The Shinigami was nonplussed at his glare and continued talking. To Light's ever-increasing vexation.

"You decided you were going to play Batman," he pointed out while spinning in his computer chair. “Yet you’re about as far from being Batman as I am.”

"I know that."

"Well, doesn't that mean you need to do more than just dress up in his suit, use his toys, and ride around in his Batmobile?"

"It's just taking me a bit longer than I expected."

_A lot longer_ , he amended as pain shot up from, well, everywhere.

" _Hyuk_.” Ryuk spun around in the computer chair he dragged down just so he could be comfortable while watching Light attempt to climb the pole. “Why don't you just admit you make a terrible Batman?"

Light decided that he needed to add researching how to muzzle a Shinigami to his list of skills to master. He got back up and planted his fists on his hips while he worked out what exactly he was doing wrong.

"Do you think we can ask Nightwing if he will take us out in the Batboat next?"

"No."

"Please?" Ryuk whined. "I really want to take a ride in the Batboat before he decides to kick you out of here for being a bad Batman."

_Scrap the muzzle_ , Light decided as he again approached the poll. He was just going to find a way to ship the Shinigami off to Siberia. Ten minutes later, however, Light was no closer to figuring out how exactly to climb that pole without sliding back down as soon as he got a few inches off the ground.

"Hey, uh, Light," Ryuk called out. "What's it mean when humans say  _give up while you're ahead?"_

Light ignored him.

"Perhaps you should examine what Nightwing said, sir," Alfred suggested as he walked by with a clean Batsuit.

Light peered up at him, thankful that Ryuk had stopped spinning in his chair. A haunted Batcave might be a workable explanation but it wasn’t something Light wanted to get into. Not with the flag at the top of the pole still being his primary concern. He scratched his nose with the tip of one finger as he contemplated what the butler said.

"He told me to get the flag at the top of the pole."

Alfred nodded and Light saw there was a slight twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes, but he did not say  _how_  you needed to get the flag down, now did he?"

With that final parting comment, the butler turned and exited the cave. Light wondered what he meant. Then a bulb went on inside his head as a potential solution to his dilemma came to him.  _Of_   _course!_ he thought as a slow, devious smile curved his lips. _Why didn’t I think of this sooner?_

It took him most of the night and required quite a lot of tools to pull off, but it was worth it when Nightwing entered the Batcave the following morning to find the pole had been chopped into thirty neat piles of firewood.

Light proudly displayed the flag from the back of the Lay-Z-Boy chair he set in front of the Batcomputer.

"I see that you managed to retrieve the flag.”

Light thought he detected a certain degree of pride in his voice. Or maybe it was just that Light had finally managed to show him how he was good at something  _other_  than computers.

"You said that I was to get the flag down.” Light sent him a smug look. "You never said _how_ I was supposed to do it."

"No, I didn't say how you were to get the flag down," Nightwing agreed with a small smirk. "That was the point of the lesson."

Light goggled at him. "What?"

Ryuk laughed and fell off the gargoyle he perched himself on. Light ignored him. For now.  

"And what am I supposed to have learned from this lesson?"

"If you are going to be Batman," the older hero explained patiently, "you need to think like Batman. He always fought smarter, not harder." He turned away, but not before saying, "I cut the pole down, too." Light felt his left eye twitch, but Nightwing continued on, not disturbed in the least by the looks of death he was getting. "And now that you  _are_  thinking like Batman, the real training can begin."

Light gulped. "Real training?"

That didn't sound... _good_. A fact which Ryuk helpfully pointed out to him.

"Hey, Light, I think you should throw in the towel before you end up in a wheelchair."

At the end of the day, Light vowed to not only ship the Shinigami off to Siberia but to send the newly dubbed  _Torturer-of-Light_  right along with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
> 
> This is a gift!fic I wrote for the wonderful zanganito based off one of his own wonderful stories to say thank you for the friendship, support, and encouragement! 
> 
> Please, if you like this piece, kudo/bookmark it. Take care, everyone!


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